Things That Worked On Tour

Now that the excitement of the bike tour is over and the gear is put away (mostly). I thought you might like to know what I did to make the tour more enjoyable (if it actually did so), and what I used and found particularly useful. The things that come to mind range from paniers to batteries and aren't very exciting, but can come in handy.

I'll start with the solar charger I bought to try and keep my iPhone up and running. Before the trip I tried charging it in my back yard (Southern California) and found that it could take up to 2 days to fully charge. I was concerned about this, but the reality on the tour was that charging stations were available. What the solar charger did do very well was provide backup power without having to plug my phone into the station. The charging stations had to be manned because they were in public spaces and walking away would leave the devise vulnerable to theft. The group we travelled with had several people who wanted some sort of electronic devise charged. Several would be plugged in and one person "stood watch" (but were easily distracted) while the others showered, rested, ate a meal, etc. I felt comfortable leaving the charger plugged in and walking away. When it was charged I could collect it, store it, and use it to charge my phone while I was sleeping, riding, or whatever. Having the flexibility of charging the devise and using it when it was convenient to charge the phone, and to have a backup during time away from the group was a really nice thing. It turned out that the solar aspect was not that great for charging, but a nice back up. The key advantage was having the back up battery to charge the phone.

The next item I bought for the trip is a clip that can be wrapped around the bar or stem and used to hold route/cue sheets visible and easily accessible. It's a small thing, but it did make quite a difference for me. I didn't actually start using it until about the third day, and I don't know what took me so long, but I will start using it from the beginning next time. I wish I could remember where I bought it (somewhere on the web!).

Here are some pics from the road...